Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Twelve

❝pleasure (pronounced ˈplɛʒə or plezh-er), noun
a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment.❞

Drew opened his front door, still crying, and walked straight to his room, ignoring his mother, who was asking him what was wrong. He fell onto his bed, curling up and sobbing.

"Jesus, Drew, what happened?!" Jessie asked, running and opening the door.

"You were right about her, Momma," he cried. "You were right all along to not trust her, she's cold and heartless."

"Did you have a fight?"

"She broke up with me," he said shakily. "Said- said that I wasn't good enough for her and that I was disgusting b-because I'm not s-straight..."

"What?"

Drew's eyes widened, as he realised he'd just accidentally come out to his mother. "I... I like girls, but I like boys, too."

She pursed her lips. Drew knew that choosing between God and her child wasn't going to be easy for her, but she closed her eyes and shook her head, helping him sit up and hugging him. "Something isn't right," said Jessie softly.

"H-Huh?"

"I'm sorry this all happened, darling, but something just isn't right. Something doesn't add up. Elle was fine for the past week, right?"

His head hurt just thinking about earlier that day. "She was... she was so happy when I told her that we might be moving in together. And then she left the living room for a little while and when she came back, it was... she was so strange, Mom, I don't-"

"I'm calling Hunter," said Jessie, pulling out her phone.

"Mom, no-"

"Not because she broke up with you," said Jessie tightly. "I'm worried that she's in danger."

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Hunter woke up to his phone ringing at one am, and he groaned loudly. "Go away," he grumbled, and Ryan woke up too, rubbing her eyes tiredly and picking up Hunter's phone.

"It's Jessie," she mumbled, answering. "Hello?" Her sleepy look faded, and her eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Hunter's head snapped around to look at her. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Go to Elle's room. Now!" she whispered urgently.

"What?"

"Hunter!"

"Alright, alright, but-"

"Check that she's there."

"Check that she's there? Where the hell else would she be, if not-"

"Would you stop wasting time?!"

He sighed, getting out of bed and slowly making his way to Elle's room. He made sure to knock first, but when there was no response, he opened the door and looked inside.

The room was perfectly neat. The bed was made, everything was tucked away, and her teddy, the one Hunter had gotten her, Harry, was the only stuffed animal missing on the bookshelf. Her mirror reflected her lava lamp light.

Elle wasn't there.

He went numb, and his blood ran cold. Elle was gone. She had met Gabriel and now she was gone. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.

He walked in slowly, trying to keep his breathing steady. This could mean any number of things. But then he saw the two envelopes on her bed. One labelled Pa and Ma, and one labelled Beanbag.